Sheriff Bryan Whipple, the second officer who arrived at the mobile home in Ness City where Pam Babcock was sitting on the toilet, asked prosecutors to charge Kory McFarren with mistreatment of a dependent adult.

However, Mr McFarren said his 35-year-old girlfriend - whom he had been looking after for 16 years - had a phobia about leaving the bathroom because of beatings she received in her childhood.

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"I didn't do this to her. It was her choice. She is an adult, she made her own decision.

"It was my fault I should have gotten help for her sooner - I admit that," he added. "But after a while, you kind of get used to it."

Initially he told police that she had been on his toilet for two years, but yesterday he said he could not be sure: "Time just went by so quick I can't pinpoint how long."

"It just kind of happened one day; she went in and had been in there a little while, the next time it was a little longer. Then she got it in her head she was going to stay - like it was a safe place for her,"

Mr Whipple, who pried the seat from the toilet with a crow bar so doctors could surgically remove it from Miss Babcock, said the house was "cluttered but not in shambles" when he arrived.

"The smell was overpowering - a terrible smell about the house, obviously coming from where she was at."

Miss Babcock had open sores on which the toilet seat became stuck, suggesting that she had sat on it for at least a month at a time, the sheriff said.

"She would have to be sleeping on the toilet," he added. "She hadn't bathed for quite some time, I am safe in saying. She obviously was not keeping herself up."

But Mr McFarren said his girlfriend moved around the bathroom, bathed and changed into fresh clothes he brought her. He claimed they had conversations and a normal relationship - except it all took place in the bathroom.

The case has been the talk of Ness City, a town with 1,500 residents, and has made headlines around the world.

The county attorney, who is due to decide whether to charge Mr McFarren, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

"The unfortunate thing is this truly is a case of two people, in my opinion, with diminished mental capacity," Mr Whipple said.

Mr McFarren said he decided to call police on Feb 27 when Miss Babcock became groggy - as if she was confused, but awake.

Emergency responders found her fully dressed on the toilet, except for her tracksuit bottoms that was pulled down to her mid-thigh.

According to Mr McFarren, his girlfriend was unaware that she had lost feeling in her legs due to an infection that damaged her nerve endings. Doctors told him that she could end up in a wheelchair.

Mr McFarren, who works in an antique store, said he would still take care of his girlfriend if she came home.

He claimed he tried to coax her out of the bathroom every day. "And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow,"' Mr Whipple said.